[lostproc]

Hi All,
I’ve had my CRV now for a little over 2 years, and about 26k miles – so I thought I’d post a mini review/recap on my car and share my experiences with the form and potential purchasers.
Background:
I bought the 2017 CRV to replace a 2004 Toyota Highlander. I wanted something of similar size, and AWD. Budget was $30k. Shopped the CX-5 (too small), the RAV-4 (hated the interior and ride), Ford Escape (didn’t like it, worried about longevity) and the Nissan Rogue (CVT/longevity issues)
Bought a 2017 CRV EX-L AWD in black pearl with ivory interior.
Issues to date:
Condensation hose was not attached properly at the factory, condensate leaked into the car on a hot, humid, 3-hour trip. Soaked the carpets on passenger side, and rear floor. Fixed under warranty by Honda, who also replaced all carpeting
Shifter button – fixed by Honda
“The Fix” – HVAC unit + ECU re-flash/learn – Definitely helped with the cabin heat, it now seems to have 2 stages – goes up to 4-5 bars rather quickly (3 -4 mins even on 5-degree F days), sits there, then gets to full temp. This is in my normal stop and go suburban driving. Before it would take a lot longer then go up slowly and steadily in similar conditions.
Likes:
Size/space. Decent acceleration, AWD is pretty good. Great bang for the buck with respect to features (LKAS/CWD,ACC, memory seats, auto-high beams) No issues with auto-high beams and ACC as some have mentioned here. Getting the stated MPG around town (26) and can get 34+ on highway. Overall driving dynamics are good too – very easy to whip around in a parking lot. Ride is good, but I wish they would offer laminated windshields like in the Pilot on the EX-L and above to lower wind noise. Reat seat legroom is best in class and roomy.
Dislikes:
Slow head unit. Luckily in 2 years I’ve only had to hard reboot maybe 4 times. OEM tires (Bridgestone) suck – noisy and not good in snow. Will probably get about 30k miles on them until I have to replace. CVT drone in S mode at highway speeds, and the whistle noise when slowing down. Honda needs more noise insulation in the transmission tunnel area.
Would I buy again?
Yes. To me this is still the best bang for the buck in the class. The CX5 now has a slightly nicer interior, but is still too small. Recently drive a friend’s new RAV 4. Didn’t care for it (better than previous model). I have not had the oil dilution issue that some seem to have. My oil does smell like gas, but I change it at 20% oil life, so for me that’s about 5.5k mile intervals.

 

[Traylaw]

My 2017 also had the condensate line not connected. They also replaced the carpeting.

 

[Heather18]

I'm always curious about mpg readings. Do most people rely on digital readings or do it long hand? My 2018 Avalon Hybrid got 42.8 mpg today in eco mode for an 8 mi stop and go trip in city traffic according to the computer. I filled up previously and found I got 38.3 mpg for the tank calculated long hand (miles driven divided by gallons used). 34 mpg? in a turbo CRV?

 

[lostproc]

Yes - that was hand calculated. Did 340 miles on the PA turnpike (no AC) and when I filled the tank it took 9.987 gallons. MPG computer said 34.1 MPG.. I find my CRV is pretty good at the MPG calc - usually within +/- 0.5 mpg

 

[Heather18]

Good for you. The best I've seen is 28 mpg on I-70 in IN. But that is going 75-80 keeping up with traffic.

 

[williamsji]

My CRV Touring is almost 2 years old and I have been quite happy with it. I use it mostly for local in town driving, so I don't rack up a lot of miles per month. I did notice that the Maintenance Minder for oil service is a lot more intelligent then the one in my old 2008 CRV, which is a good thing. I don't know how many parameters it keeps tabs on to determine when it is time to change out the oil, but in my case it triggers at about 3000 miles +/- and that makes sense since I literally drive only about 3000 miles per year. On my old 2008 CRV, I had to set a reminder in my calendar to have my oil serviced at the end of 12 months (per the manual, for low mileage users).

I had one recall about 3 months after I bought it, for an R&R on the fuel feed into the gas tank (which apparently affected a limited number of production vehicles). Took about 3 hours at the dealer for this and of course was covered under warranty.

Last month I had to take it in to have the shifter interlock button replaced under warranty as it broke one morning as I was pulling out of my garage. This is apparently a known issue and people are seeing these break. Honda claims they are working on a more robust replacement (though as is often the case, the dealer had no idea one way or the other, but did say they had seen several of these come for repair). This was covered under warranty without any pushback by the dealer, and I had to wait a few days to bring it back for the button replacement as they needed to order the part and it was right before the weekend. Honda claims (according to internet sources that once they have a newly designed part, they will automatically replace them on CRVs when they are brought in for service (but I'm skeptical of this). In the meantime... I do not let the interlock switch just pop back when I let go of the shifter.. I slowly let it return with my thumb on it as when I looked at the broken button, it appeared to be a stress fracture at the back end of the button assembly which is where I would expect a snap-back of the button to receive the most shock.

Battery charging behavior is a bit soft in my view on these modern Hondas.. which I think is because they want to keep the load on the alternator as low as possible for minor improvements in fuel economy. The result is if you do not do a lot of long driving cycles, it appears the battery is not always charged to 100%. Since I do a lot of short drives around town, I put a plug in volt meter into my center console 12 power plug so I can monitor the charging levels of the control module for battery charging, and turned off ECO mode driving (car performs better around town with ECO off anyway I found so I only switch it on if I am doing a long drive on the freeway now). Now days, the battery appears fully charged at the end of the day, based on DC voltage readings (ie: alternator voltage in low charge mode of 12.4-12.9, with periodic short cycles back and forth from 14.5).

Would I buy another CRV? I would absolutely buy another Compact SUV... but as with every purchase cycle, I research the field for the features and strengths/weaknesses in current production models. This last purchase cycle it was quickly a choice for me between another CRV or a Subaru Forester. I found the CRV to be a more refined vehicle overall, and the combination of the 1.5T engine and the CVT to be much better then what Subaru offered (mainly because CVTs need torque to work smoothly and the 1.5T from Honda is very torque rich at lower rpms so the engine is not forced to be constantly moving at high rpms to help the CVT shift properly (unlike the HRV with it's 1.8 + CVT which needs to be winding at fairly high rpms at times.... making it quite noisy). I switch out cars every 8-10 years, so I'll have to wait and see what is in the market at that time. I do know that Honda is on a plan to be 100% Hybrids and/or electrics, as well as Level 4 autonomous driving features, by the time I am in the market for a new car... to it will be an interesting research cycle when the day comes. I may however wait on a new car until they release Level 5 autonomy... time will tell. [Honda has selected Cruise (majority owned by GM) as their technology partner for self-driving tech, is now a shareholder of Cruise, and will invest about $2B over the coming years to bring that technology into their vehicles].

 

[williamsji]

I find my CRV is pretty good at the MPG calc - usually within +/- 0.5 mpg

This has been my experience as well, which is nice. My old 2008 CRV was not nearly as good at this.

Since I do a lot of in town driving, my average mileage is in the low 20s, but when simply driving down the street at the speed limit the instantaneous readings show an average of 40mpg. Of course with all the non-synchronized traffic lights, traffic, short trips, etc... for me it's a big difference from mpg at speed and average mpg overall. And I have a bit of a heavy foot off the intersections when the light turns green, and also do not use ECO mode in town. By comparision, on my 2008 CRV... my long term average (same driving conditions) was more in the range of 15mpg.. so the fuel economy promised by Honda does scale and match well to my particular driving conditions and habits.